We are down to the last four of the Grand Slam of Darts with both the semi-finals taking place inside the behind closed doors setup at the Ricoh Arena on Monday, after which we will know which two men will do battle for the title on Tuesday.
After a dramatic day of action on Sunday we now know we are guaranteed a new winner of this tournament with none of the four men left having lifted the trophy before. Only one of them has made the final in the past so we are treading new territory here in many ways.
Simon Whitlock vs Jose de Sousa
The opening semi-final of the tournament sees the man who blew the competition wide open when he beat Michael van Gerwen in the last eight on Sunday night on show again when Simon Whitlock takes on the classy and fast improving Jose de Sousa in what looks like being a high quality clash.
Whitlock has beaten van Gerwen twice prior to Sunday evening this year and he has played well below par in the following match on both occasions. That isn’t a coincidence. It is an emotional high to beat van Gerwen and the comedown is inevitable. That gives de Sousa a huge advantage in this match. You would give the Portuguese ace a good chance of winning without that advantage and if he is clean with his doubling he should come out a fairly comfortable winner here with the scoring power he possesses.
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James Wade vs Dimitri Van den Bergh
The second semi-final would appear a better one on paper as it contains two men who have won a TV tournament in the past when James Wade, the only man who has previously made the final of this event, going up against the current World Matchplay champion Dimitri Van den Bergh for a place in the final on Tuesday.
This should be an absolute pearler of a match with the clash in styles that comes around. We have the solid, consistent nature of Wade taking on the more flamboyant and dynamic Van den Bergh and it will be interesting which one comes out in front. I suspect this match is in the hands of Van den Bergh. His scoring consistency is such that he is likely to be creating plenty of finishing chances for himself so if he checks out to any sort of half-decent nature you would think he will win. You have to respect Wade over this distance as he is consistent throughout a match but Van den Bergh clearly has elevated his game and his status since winning the Matchplay and I favour him to get over the line here.
Tips
WON – Back J.de Sousa (-1.5 legs) to beat S.Whitlock for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back D.Van den Bergh to beat J.Wade for a 3/10 stake at 1.75 with Betfair
Back him here:
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